Federal agents invaded an Amish farm in Pennsylvania at 5 a.m. to inspect cow-milking facilities then followed up the next day with a written notice
that the farmer was engaged in interstate sale of raw milk in violation of the Public Health Services Act.

I live right by where this happened. I didn't read or hear anything about it in local news so I'm spreading the word myself. Apparently raw milk
is as dangerous as heroin that the Feds need to get involved. Ridiculous. Disturbing.

I grew up on a dairy farm. I drank approximately 1 gallon of whole milk a day. Sometimes two.

I use to scoop a large glass of cream off the top of the bulk tank and drink it while in high school. I did a calorie content of that glass for a
biology and chem paper while in my sophomore year. If I remember correctly it was about 7000 calories.

When I left high school I was 6'2" tall and weighed 205#. Built like a brick #house.

Now, the milk I get from the stores is watered down crap that has been pasteurized, homogenized, etc etc etc. Tastes like crap and goes through me
like greased lightening.

See, you are not allowed to eat or drink something that may be good for you. You need that semi food that is provided for you.

It was Monsanto who did it, since they did not inject there cows with growth hormone it was just to healthy for any normal person to consume.
it was all natural - how dare that farmer interfer with interstate commerce. arrest the tit puller.

I grew up in a community of dairy farmers. Amazingly enough, everyone I knew grew up drinking raw milk.

Wow, no deaths.

Still, now that the fear mongerer is here. Got any statistics on the safety of standard pasteurized, homogenized etc etc etc milk?

Please, inform the ignorant. I will be waiting for your response with baited breath.

edit to add-

From the link provided by JPZ the FDA.gov

# Is it legal to sell raw milk for human consumption? Federal regulation prohibits the introduction into interstate commerce of any unpasteurized
milk product in final package form, intended for human consumption (21 CFR 1240.61). In promulgating this regulation in 1987, FDA made a number of
findings relative to raw milk, including that "raw milk, no matter how carefully produced, may be unsafe." However, some states do permit the
intrastate sale of raw milk intended for human consumption.

WOW, may be unsafe. Well THERE you go. I guess walking may be unsafe! Better outlaw THAT!

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't a lot of people die of milk-related sicknesses in the 1800's. I believe Abraham Lincoln's mother may have
died of such a sickness.

That is not to say that raw milk cannot be safe today. Today's farmers know about hygiene and diseases and could implement programs on their farms
to keep the milk safe. However, many factory farms are filthy places. I would want to pasteurize anything that came out of them.

Originally posted by Wertdagf
And when the $%&*ing amish cow squeezers #$%^ up the milk and kill someone... who gonna foot the bill?

You think god is gonna fly down on his cloud and bring dead children back to life?

Wow! Attack religion while advocating intrusive government in less than 50 words. You're good man.

Are you under the impression that pasteurization has been with humanity since time immemorial,
or do you think that no one drank raw milk prior to pasteurization?

Humans consumed raw milk exclusively prior to the industrial revolution and the discovery of the pasteurization process in 1864. During the industrial
revolution large populations congregated into urban areas detached from the agricultural lifestyle. Up until that point, individuals and families
owned their own goats, cows, and other livestock and milked them on a daily basis.

Interestingly that same Wikipedia article goes on to state:

The Raw vs. Pasteurized Debate places the alleged health benefits of consuming raw milk against the disease threat of unpasteurized milk. Although
agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other worldwide regulatory agencies say that
pathogens from raw milk make it unsafe to consume,[3] other organizations such as the Weston A. Price Foundation in its "Real Milk" campaign say
that raw milk has health benefits that are destroyed in the pasteurization process and that it can be produced hygienically.

Framing raw milk's health benefits as "alleged" in spite of what was written earlier, while now clearly advocating regulation and pasteurization
with this last paragraph. People have been drinking milk ever since they figured out how to squeeze a teet and get milk because that. Does your
secular worship of the FDA forbid you to acknowledge that even with the FDA heavily regulating food people still die from
foodborne illnesses every year in spite of that regulation?

Even in industrialized countries, up to 30% of the population of people have been reported to suffer from foodborne diseases every year. In the U.S,
around 76 million cases of foodborne diseases, which resulted in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, are estimated to occur each year.

Where were your precious FDA gods for those 5000 people each year? Who paid for that? What do your sacred gods say when that happens? Oooopsie!

No, this kind of crap is going on all over. Licensing or stuff for the sale of raw milk. This is who enforces it. The feds enforce their draconian
ideals on what we should eat.

Fine, raise your own herd for your own consumption. What you consider healthy is fine for you. While I don't even drink milk, because I don't
think it's right to drink milk produced by animals for their offspring by humans.........it should be considered safe. How do you know for instance,
if this farmer was giving his cows growth hormones?

You have dairy inspectors that come in every so often to inspect the farm and the operation. Back then it was about every 2 weeks.

As for corporate farming, I would never drink their milk raw.

Alright, milk is given different grades by inspections. Hell, our farm you could have eaten off the floor. I had actually several times. Our cows were
our pets really, they all had names and we treated them well.

Every tank of milk is tested PRIOR to going into the larger storage tanks at dairies. They are tested for bacteria content plus also the standard anti
mastitus and other antibiotics. These are to ensure no one could get an allergic reaction to these medicines.

Now, if a cow is given these antibiotics their milk is NOT kept. It is usually given to the calves, cats or dumped.

I would rather NOT get the rbgh injected milk. I would rather risk the VERY slim chance of a bacterial infection then the possible problems from
steroids that is VERY prevalent nowadays in the Corporate farms.

Running a bacterial test on all milk sold in the raw milk format would NOT be that hard. Those test are not very expensive and are quite simple.

Of course bacteria is prevalent even in air. I am trying to recall our numbers but so much per cc was allowed to exist before the milk was downgraded.
I do not recall our milk ever getting downgraded for that purpose.

Yes, back in the day, milk probably caused problems. But how are we to even know what the real causes of the problems were.

One of the largest problems nowadays in food borne contamination is from e coli. This is from the people themselves though.

There was an outbreak of that awhile back in a cheese factory. It was linked directly to a person that was not following procedure and contaminated
the product after pasteurization and the production of the cheese.

Anyone in the production of the raw milk products take extra precautions because they would be liable for gross misconduct let alone the civil
penalties if something were to happen.

I actually had a farmer that I use to get my milk from daily. Lately I have been lazy and going to the grocers. I think I may have to start again just
because of this story.

Do you know anything about milk production in cattle? If an standard dairy cow is not fed properly they will go dry. The dairy cattle usually go into
heat every 13 months or so. A single calf is usually born. Sometimes twins but very rarely.

Now, to create the milk a cow must be fed properly and a diet high in many different things. High sugar content, etc.

I have an uncle in law who is a dairy farmer in Illinois. They could not get out much, so they held family reunions at their home. One thing he did
for entertainment purposes was to show us, by ramming his arm up a cow, is what they do to keep a cow producing milk. Cows on dairy farms do not get
the pleasure of a bull, they are kept pregnant by the dairy farmer, so yes, I have problem about it. It is like people who run puppy mills in my
opinion. They force a natural reproduction for the pleasure of people. My husband also has a first cousing who makes his living off of artificially
inseminating cows. No kidding, they make their living doing this.

Yes, I have a lot of problems with cows being impregnated over and over against being able to do it naturally.

Also, if you have ever visited a dairy farm, which your statements allow me to believe you haven't, the calf is taken away from it's mother
immediately to allow milk production for you.

The way they get around those things in some areas is that the "raw drinkers" actually purchase the cow, which the farmer keeps and takes care of
for them. Sometimes, two or three people will go in on the purchase of the cow. That way it is the production of their own cow and their own personal
business if they drink the milk. The farmer does not "sell" the raw milk.

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